reported<\/a> in The Gazette (Montgomery County), March 30, 2011. <\/p>\nJennifer Beekman, senior staff writer for The Gazette, in her article stated that "The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association instituted a state championship meet in 2007. Ever since, Montgomery County schools, whose teams rank among the strongest at Metros (and in the nation), have had to choose between the two meets, which are held on the same weekend."<\/p>\n
Beekman reports the new proposal by the high school athletic directors is to move the Metros meet up two weeks earlier. This would cause significant schedule conflicts and impact on taper periods, significantly diluting the performances of the swimmers. <\/p>\n
Beekman has it 100 percent right. That is a major threat to one of the top national high school, athletic events in the nation. It is also a threat to USA Swimming and the swimmers who post qualifying times for U.S. Nationals. <\/p>\n
At Metros, swimmers are motivated four ways- to break national private and public high school records, national age group records, earn NCAA scholarships and to qualify for U.S. Nationals. <\/p>\n
Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC is a Hot Bed of Talent<\/b>
\nThe Metros and the Washington, D.C. area is a hot spot of aquatic talent going back more than 50 years, thanks to the dedicated coaches of USA Swimming, the area clubs, county, country club and university swimming pool program\/complexes and the parents who have supported the programs. <\/p>\n
The Metros has produced top national and international athletes and coaches placing them in numerous Olympic Games, FINA World Championships, NCAAs, Pan American Games and other elite international meets and competitions. The Metros is one of the most important meets for recruiting and placing student athletes in U.S. universities. <\/p>\n
The high school championships meet the athletic directors are trying to develop, due to their system, will not produce the same results. By interfering with the Metros' taper period, it most likely will harm the swimmers, diminishing their performances and NCAA scholarship chances. <\/p>\n
Do you live in Montgomery County or Northern Virginia? On any given Saturday morning in the summer time, you may be abruptly awakened from your bed by the top-of-the-lungs roar of more than 2,500 screaming parents, swimmers, and supporters cheering young age-group swimmers for any given close race in a local neighborhood pool. Yes. That is correct. You can hear the roar from more than a mile away. There is nothing like it in Europe. But, the Australians living around Sydney understand.<\/p>\n
Opt for Unity<\/b>
\nThe athletic directors are in danger of making a classic mistake. They are placing geography over unity. "The coaches have voted unanimously each year in favor of the Metros" and against making the change of moving the meet up two weeks in the calendar. <\/p>\n
The Metros represent unity. They draw the public schools and private high schools together from all three geographic areas, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. That produces an atmosphere that is electrically charged and conducive to creating the best national high school performances. <\/p>\n
The Europeans for many years have made the mistake of eliminating outside competition by keeping meets based on geography. Now, they are opening up again, and the broadened mixed competition has produced world-class results.<\/p>\n
The Metros must be protected and given schedule and taper priority. It has produced world-class athletes in the past and will continue to produce more in the future for the high schools. The Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland area has produced great swimmers. Coaches and athletes hope the athletic directors will place the welfare of the athletes first and opt for unity. It brings out the best in everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Column by Steven V. Selthoffer WASHINGTON, D.C., April 4. THE Washington, D.C.-area Metros High School Swimming Championships are under threat from a schedule change proposed by county and state high<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n
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